


Bad Faith

by LeighLa (WarieLym)



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship, i refuse to let alucard be as sad as he really is, i reject canon and substitute my own yet again, implied onesided(?) trephacard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:28:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23089369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarieLym/pseuds/LeighLa
Summary: If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot.// s3 spoilers //
Comments: 7
Kudos: 60





	Bad Faith

**Author's Note:**

> let me preface this with Sumi and Taka did a Horrible Thing, but they did it out of fear, desperation, and in my opinion a very misguided sense of pity, and considering their past, I find it very hard to hate them. I mostly just hate the writers for doing them and Alucard like this.
> 
> also, i only had the last 2 episodes spoiled for me so this is where my knowledge of season three starts and ends lmao 
> 
> if people don't absolutely despise me for writing this (i know they're very divisive characters and this is definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea) it might end up multi-chapter??? who's to say. im a slut for hurt/comfort and happy endings.
> 
> finally, im not a writer, im just sad and word vomiting but if you read this i hope it soothes some of the same ache i was dealing with

_ “You’re no different from the rest of them.” _

“ _ I tried to be.” _

Adrian isn’t sure what does it. The heartbroken crack in his voice that he doesn’t have the presence of mind to be mortified by, the uncontrollable shift of his sclera from human white to the fearful black of a trapped animal-

Sumi’s blade lowers a fraction, tension in her arms wavering, before falling to clatter uselessly on the stone floor. Taka’s follows several heartbeats later, and Adrian feels the cutting tension of the silver that binds him begin to ebb, though the tension in his muscles remains.

Is it a trick? As if they hadn’t been infinitely cruel enough? To be bound and nearly ended by a pair that he had given himself to, the  _ first people _ he had trusted to-

His breathing quickens, and he curses the tears that he can feel beginning to well in earnest. 

Sumi stares down at him, her expression tight with the strange cocktail of a deep-rooted fear, the dread she carried and cultivated over a lifetime, and a stricken, sudden grief. Taka’s is pinched by apprehension, his glance flickering between Sumi and their captive, the sharp edges of his distrust only softened by the same pulsing realizations that appear to have gripped Sumi.

A muscle in Sumi’s jaw jumps as she fists her hands in the sheets beneath her, and a tense moment passes before she speaks, voice hoarse, a single word choked out from between grit teeth. “...Fuck.”

The burning cables that lay lank around his body fall against him like cut strings, and Adrian wastes no time throwing them away from himself, pressing up against the headboard as far as he can get away from the pair without agitating the already fragile tension.

An oppressive silence bears down on them then, none prepared to break the stalemate of their own making, and it’s in this moment, taking in the reality of the situation, that Adrian realizes he is broken.

Broken in a way that he has no idea how to repair, broken enough,  _ lonely _ enough, that he wants nothing more than to say  _ it’s alright, I forgive you, just  _ stay,  _ I’ll tell you whatever you want, just don’t leave me here alone  _ again-

A̶g̶a̶i̶n̶?̶

Perhaps he shouldn’t have fought, cried, tried to reason. He wouldn’t have been lonely in hell. He wouldn’t be taunted by the voices of his former companions, the phantom of his father that haunts the edges of his vision, the screams of his mother from the pyre. 

It would have been a mercy.

A gift.

His scattered, traitorous thoughts must be plain on his face, in the hot tears that he can feel rolling down his cheeks, as Taka swears coarsely, scrambling off the bed, hands tangling in his curly hair. 

“Sumi, I-” His voice quakes and leaves him with a whine, rounded eyes locked on Adrian in something akin to despair. "We-"

Sumi remains planted where she kneels on the bed, a tortured grimace pulling her lips up from her teeth. Her brows knit together, her head shaking weakly as if trying to convince herself that yes, this _was_ necessary, that he _was_ a danger, that they _had to._

“...You haven’t lied to us, have you?”

Words have long since left Adrian, and he shakes his head soundlessly, his shaking legs curling against his chest, a futile barrier between him and his would-be assassins. 

Unbound as he is, they would stand no chance if he chose to defend himself, this he knows, but the fresh sting of their attempted betrayal fills him with an ache he knows will prove fatal if repeated.

He had withheld, he had slowed his teachings in hope of just a bit more time, a few more smiles, more laughs and warm, comforting touches-

“...You just wanted company.” Sumi continues, as if reading straight from his head, a pained lilt coloring her voice, and Adrian wishes she were wrong. It would hurt less if she were. “You were just  _ lonely _ , and we-”

Her revelation is all it takes to wrench a strangled cry from Taka, whose hands have come up to hide his face, as if Adrian can’t see the shine of unshed tears in his eyes from the imagined safety of the headboard.

They were scared.

They were scared, and they lashed out at a threat.

_ If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot. _

They were just as scared, just as lonely, almost certainly  _ more so  _ than he had been before they arrived, and his vague admissions and half-truths had done nothing but fuel their paranoia.

It was a wonder it took as long for things to come to a head as they did, he reasons, feeling as though he’s observing the scene from outside of his body. Three powder kegs of distrust and longing, each waiting for the flames to appear and destroy what little they had left.

What better way to avoid disaster than to rid themselves of the powder before it could catch, to take as much as they needed and discard the excess that would inevitably only harm them?

In the near-silence of the bedroom, illuminated only by moonlight, Adrian slumps against the pillows behind him, silver coils and sharp, killing edges forgotten.

Adrian would not be his father. He would not seek revenge against humans who acted in fear. He would learn. He would teach, and,  _ god willing,  _ he mused, would forgive. 

Adrian would make his mother proud.

But Alucard would not forget.

The silence lasts only a beat longer, before he finds it in himself to speak, voice wavering, but still more level than he had expected it to be.

“You will learn, if you would still have me as your teacher. I will not leave you helpless with so much at stake.”

He thinks of the generals, of Cho, of Carmilla, of his  _ father.  _ He will equip them as best he can. A sword and a bow to add to the fight. Two less bodies in the dirt, if they agree to learn.

He would not have to see a rotting corpse with Taka's freckles, or Sumi's striking eyes gone glassy in death. They would live, they would _thrive_ , if only for the sake of his own sanity. Trust or no trust, on either side.

Sumi’s eyes are wide and glinting with disbelief in the darkness, the expression mirrored on Taka’s face as his hands fall from his face. Her lips twitch, as if she intends to speak, but Alucard does not give her the time.

“But harm me again and I swear that I will make you regret it.”

**Author's Note:**

> i sure do use enough commas for this to read like the goddamn scarlet letter huh


End file.
